NBA talk

[vonkaar]

After hashing this out all over the forums... I've pretty well decided that Dallas should just let the opponent shoot the ball and croud around the basket for rebounds. It would be a more effective defense 8(.

There's a bunch of great games tonight...

I predict:
San Antonio over Minnesota
Memphis over Toronto (sorry)
Cleveland over Phoenix (hehe)
Detroit over New Orleans
Washington will pull an upset over Utah
New Jersey will pull an upset over Chicago ^_^
Sacramento will beat the hell out of Milwauke and they (bucks) will wonder why they ever thought they were playoff contenders.

[Zanchief]

Memphis over Toronto (sorry)

No way, Vince will steal the show.

Probably gonna check out SA Minnesota though, I've slowly become a huge Granett fan.

[Jirig]

Hi, Spurs lost.

I blame Minnesota refs.

How about the show Hedo Turkoglu put up? Steal with the fastbreak PLUS drawing the foul in the final minutes of the game? Sheeit. That was beautiful.

It was a good game, though, despite the numberous bad calls. Tim Duncan versus KG was very intense.

Cassell played a damn good game. Ervin stuck to TD like butter on bread... and Garnett, as usual, was on fire... all in all, it was a good match up. Still mad we lost though. :evil:

[Jirig]

numberous

Cong my fat fingers~

[vonkaar]

I'm about ready to give up on the Mavs... Memphis is now a full game ahead of us. We are a bottom 3 playoff seed and we aren't exactly strong on momentum lately. If the 8th spot weren't so volatile, I'd worry about making the playoffs AT ALL.

Crazy to think that we had 60 wins last year...

[Zanchief]

Memphis is looking real good though.

Too think this is the first time they make the playoffs in the history of the team and they might make it to the second round in the west.

PS: Overtime in Houston made me cry, they had that game.

[Jirig]

So anyway... Spurs on a 10 win streak and the Mavs actually playing defense. Sweet Christ, save the NBA from the wrath of Texas !!1!one!!

[vonkaar]

Okay, so... now the question is...

Which of the top four will be a first-round choke team?

I'm saying that...

Denver will upset Minnesota.
Dallas will upset Sacramento.

L.A. will beat Houston.
San Antonio will beat Memphis.

Dallas will beat L.A.
San Antonio will beat Denver

And then... Dallas vs San Antonio for the West!

(I haven't even checked the standings for how possible this even is... it's just fantasy =p).

[Jirig]

TWolves have been on fire.

I can buy your "Dallas upsetting Sacramento" bit. The Mavs put up a good show yesterday. If they play that way throughout the playoffs, they definitely have a good shot at the Finals.

I haven't kept up with Houston.

I personally think Denver's gonna be a first-round choke. :p

[vonkaar]

I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that they can pull TWO miracle series this year... I *do* think that the volatile nature of the conf will allow for the Mavs to make it to the Conf finals... but... I won't openly say that they can win it.

Next year!

T-Mac 2005!!!!!

[Jirig]

T-Mac would make for a poor addition to the Mavs. You'd literally have an all-star offensive team. You'd undoubtedly score an upwards of 150+ points per game. But due to the horrible lack of defense, you'd have teams with a nonexistant offensive line-up scoring the same amount of points as you. :p

[vonkaar]

You'd undoubtedly score an upwards of 150+ points per game

I KNOW!!! ISN'T IT GREAT!!!!!

[Zanchief]

Lakers over Dallas
Denver losing to TWolves
Memphis over SA
Sac beats Houston

2nd round
Twolves over Lakers
Sac Over Memphis

West Finals
Sac over Twolves

And in the East...

Detroit wins, takes the finals to 7 games and everyone stops bitching about how crappy the finals are because of the east.

But the east still sucks.

[Jirig]

Memphis over SA

Please, sir. Put the crack pipe down.

[Spliffs]

I havn't read this whole thread so forgive me if i'm being redundant. Anyway, Sacramento takes the west. Why? Cause LA is having a mental break down and is gonna get owned in the 2nd round just like last year.

No one else has the depth except Dallas, who can't play defense. Sac has big bodies in the middle with Weber and Divac, they have amazing guards, and they have PEJA.

You heard it here ladies and gentlemen, Sacramento wins it all. Beat the pacers in the finals, 7 games. I think it's going to be an interesting play off year.

[Griever]

Football is better to watch, play and discuss than basketball.

Oh and I chose catbus

[vonkaar]

Spliffs, that is absolutely... positively, 100% crack-smokage.

The playoff picture as it looks today:

Dallas plays Sac. Seriously, Sac will NOT win this. We have the scariest home-advantage in the league... the best home record for any team in many... many years. We were bad on the road, but not in Sacramento! Go look up our record in Sac over the past 3 years... their vaunted 'scary' home-court scares us *very* little.

Sac has TANKED the last half of the season... Dallas is 8-2 over the past ten, Sac is 4-6. If ANY playoff team is suffering from lack-of-momentum, it's Sac. Throw in the confusion with the "Webber" question, they are having issues. Dallas, meanwhile... is as strong as ever.

We have the top rookie combo in the league... which is so SO incredibly scary considering their draft numbers. If Marquis Daniels had the minutes throughout the season that he's had at the end, there would be VERY REAL competition for rookie-of-the year. And he went UNDRAFTED. And... unlike the OTHER top rookies, he's not playing for one of the shittiest teams and getting all the minutes... all the passes... all the attention. He's on a top team, giving the passes... putting out the numbers. In three years, he'll be mentioned in the same breath as Brad Miller and Ben Wallace - undrafted surprise success stories.

I'm saying this right now... barring injuries, Dallas will NOT lose to Sac.

Dallas gets Minnesota in the second round. That is, if they can get out of round one (tee hee). We went 2-2 on them, even though they had some of the biggest fucking advantages... Dallas injuries and TIRED schedules. EVERY game in the 4-game series was the second-night in a back-to-back for Dallas, where Minnesota was coming off a one or TWO day rest. Yet, we won at home, they won at home.

Meanwhile, L.A. has the ONE opponent that they fear. Yao > Shaq in 3 of 4 matchups this year. Francis > Payton in 3 of 4 matchups this year. The main x-factor to that series is Karl Malone. Jackson can post *similar* numbers (notice I didn't say equal) to Kobe's performance... this series hangs on the mailman's desire for a ring.

San Antonio will beat the fuck... and I mean the FUCK out of Memphis. Props to Hubie Brown for the beautiful season he's had, but they will NOT win in San Antonio.

I see San Antonio having a lot of action this post-season... if L.A. loses to Houston, San Antonio will have a possible TWELVE home-games, with SIX (possible) games only hours away from their home... that's a fucking huge advantage. Mark Cuban will likely 'still' offer hotel price-cut packages for San Antonio fans, should the conf finals come down to S.A. vs Dallas again.

MY predictions:

Dallas > Sac (in 6 :p)
-----------------------| Dallas > Min
Minn > Denver (no repeat of 1994)

--------------------------------------| Dallas vs S.A. (anyone's series)

L.A. > Houston (in 7 exciting games)
------------------------| S.A. over L.A.
S.A. > Memphis (in 5, boring... defensive games)

In the East, it doesn't matter... Detroit is unstoppable. Depending on the picture in the West, they may win it all.

[Drunnken]

too bad old man malone fell apart

[Jirig]

Duncan versus Nowitzki

Parker versus Nash

Ginobili versus Finley

Bowen versus Daniels (Yeah Bruce, take that havoc raising motherfucker OUT!)

Heh, all kidding aside... Daniels scares the sheeit outta me.

[vonkaar]

In the S.A. vs Dallas possible matchup, Dallas' roster has a lot more depth and talent than San Antonio... it's the Duncan factor we can't answer. We have lots of 'mini-superstars' but no clear 'holy shit' player like Timmy.

Probably 90% of all basketball sports writers would include Duncan in their top 5 players for a complete roster.

Regardless... SA has a bunch of key defenders, which was great against Dallas' big-game. Ya'll haven't seen our small-ball offense though! We won 3 of 4 against SA - playing our big guys.

When we started playing Walker at center, we can't be stopped by anyone without a center of MASSIVE proportions... which is great because the teams with those types of centers are all in the OTHER bracket in the playoffs! Yay! Yao / Shaq will eliminate one of each... And then the winner between that fight has to get through the defending champs. The other 'big center' teams are in the East, and we'll deal with that if we get the chance =p. There isn't anyone in OUR playoff bracket that can beat us.

[Jirig]

I just want to digress a bit and talk about Manu Ginobili's season. Has anyone else seen the massive amount of talent this dude has?! This guy's got it all...

He's a monster on the fastbreak... and with his amount of steals per game, this shouldn't be taken lightly.

Which brings me to my final point... he makes some of the fucking hardest shots I've ever seen. IE, in last season's finals against the nets... Manu banked a shot off the glass while being pushed out of bounds by K-Mart. Can we award the lad some difficulty points or something ?! :\

[vonkaar]

Yes, he's amazing.

[Drunnken]

i concur Ginobli is fun to watch

[Zanchief]

All right, things have been revised since I last posted.

Minnesota will spank Denver

Lakers will embarrass the Rockets

Memphis will upset the Spurs. I'm sticking with it. Hubbie is a big time couch that plays a half court game and uses his whole bench. San Antonia has way more talent but I think Memphis is going to surprise them. Every elite team has been trying to find a way to beat the Lakers and have been modeling they’re teams accordingly, Memphis is like the nega-lakers.
Sacramento is going to beat Dallas man. I love Steve Nash but this team just can't defend. Sacramento has the size the discipline and the talent advantage over Dallas. I love Steve Nash and I really hope Toronto can sign him next year but that team has too many power forwards, 0 centers and they just can't defend, especially in the half court. Don't quote me regular season stats in the play-offs Vonk, it's a whole new ball game now. On a personal note, I’m hoping Dallas gets ousted in the first round so Cuban gets trigger-happy and blows the team up. The Nelson boys have been mentioned as possible replacements for Grunwald and O’Neill.

Second Round
Minnesota loses to Sacramento in game 7.

Lakers beat the shit out of Memphis making everyone wonder, how oh how did San Antonio lose to these sad sad pussies.

West Finals
If the Lakers smarten up they will win, if they don't Sac will win. My money’s on Sacramento in the finals and with the win.

Now on to Webber. Even Power Forward ridden Dallas would take Webber in a heart beat Vonk, you know why? He plays defense. Sacramento has 3 agile low-post defenders, and they have the best shot at beating the Lakers, even if they wake up.

Again, east is Detroit with a respectable final. I'm gonna be rooting for Denver and Miami even though both are hopeless.

[Scoota McGee]

Memphis will upset the Spurs. I'm sticking with it. Hubbie is a big time couch that plays a half court game and uses his whole bench. San Antonia has way more talent but I think Memphis is going to surprise them. Every elite team has been trying to find a way to beat the Lakers and have been modeling they’re teams accordingly, Memphis is like the nega-lakers.

You so high. Spurs are going to destroy Memphis. This is going to be a three game series.[/code]